Posts Tagged ‘Elves’

Ents, also known as talking trees, are rarely encountered and its a great privilege to actually see or talk with one.

Oracular Trees are attributed with the ability to speak to individuals, especially those gifted in divination. In particular, Druids were said to be able to consult Oak trees for divinatory purposes, as were the Streghe with Rowan trees.

The word “Ent” was taken from the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) word ent, meaning “giant”. Ents are probably the most ubiquitous of all creatures in fantasy and folklore, perhaps second only to dragons, most famously known now as the Ents in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories.

Perhaps not quite Ents, but the Cad Goddeu (The Battle of the Trees) medieval Welsh poem preserved in the 14th-century manuscript known as the Book of Taliesin refers to a traditional story in which the legendary enchanter Gwydion animates the trees of the forest to fight as his army. The poem is especially notable for its striking and enigmatic symbolism and the wide variety of interpretations this has occasioned particulalry by Robert Graves in his book The White Goddess.

I made a short animation based on the Cad Goddeu –

Taliesins Battle Of The Trees;

In Ireland a tree may help a person look for a leprechaun’s gold, although it normally does not know where the gold is.

According to Greek mythology, all the trees in the Dodona (northwestern Greece, Epirus) grove (the forest beside the sanctuary of Zeus) became endowed with the gift of prophecy, and the oaks not only spoke and delivered oracles while in a living state, when built into the ship Argo the wood spoke and warned of approaching calamities.

The rustling of the leaves on an Oak tree was regarded as the voice of Zeus.

The Greek Talking Elm: Philostratus spoke about two philosophers arguing beneath an elm tree in Ethiopia which spoke up to add to the conversation.

The Indian Tree of the Sun and the Moon: Told the future. Two parts of the tree trunk spoke depending on the time of day; in the daytime the tree spoke as a male and at night it spoke as a female. Alexander the Great and Marco Polo are said to have visited this tree.

In Hugh Lofting’s 1928 novel Doctor Dolittle in the Moon, the lunar flowers and trees are intelligent and capable of communication by using scents, the sounds of wind through branches, etc.

Imbued with Earth wisdom gathered over their very long life spans, the Ent is a friend to consult on all serious matters, but dont expect a hasty answer for as J.R.R.Tolkien explains of the Ent “My name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.”

Freyr, Frey -Old Norse Mythology lord of the sun, rain and harvests,
He is a shining god, bringing fertility and prosperity to all.
Freyr was one of the Vanir gods that went to live in Asgard after the War between the Æsir and Vanir.

He is the noblest of the gods. Together with his sister, Freyja, he brings peace and prosperity to men and the blessings of fertility to the home and the field. The Norsemen made sacrifices to Freyr ’til árs ok friðar’ (for frutifulness and peace).

Left to right: Njörðr, Skaði, Freyr. From the book The Elder or Poetic Edda; commonly known as Sæmund’s Edda. Edited and translated with introduction and notes by Olive Bray. Illustrated by W.G. Collingwood.

His home is Alfheim and he is known as God of the dead: those interred in the kin mounds and Lord of the land of the Alfs (Elves). This place was later called Elfhame and Elphame, and in more modern times Elfland or Elfenland.
Symbolism, Stags antler, Ship, Wagon, Boar, Rays of the sun, Phallic symbolism (and consequently the modern suggestion of a horn of plenty)
Sacred Animals, Boar, Horse, Stag.
* A Freyr idol with a priestess (or the god’s “wife”) would go on procession round villages to bless the fields during harvest.
* His holy places could not have weapons or outlaws within them and no blood shed.

The possible connections of Freyr with Ingui and their similarities have been noted.
It is known that, according to Norse mythology, Freyr was closely linked with the Sun. He was the god of peace and fertility. His parents were the sea god, Njord and the giantess, Skadi. He translates as the most prominent and most beautiful of the male members of the Vanir, and is often referred to as ‘God of the World’. Subsequent the merging of the Aesir and the Vanir, Freyr is known as ‘the Lord of the Aesir’. Freyr is also called upon by common folk to grant fertile marriages.

Ingui, or Ing, is the rather obscure name of a god in the Anglo-Saxon heathen tradition who was the god of sun and rain, and the patron of bountiful harvests. He was both a god of peace and a brave warrior. He was also the ruler of the elves.

If as many schools believe, he is one and the same as the Norse god, Freyr, then Ingui’s social standing as a god among the Anglo-Saxon heathens could have been one of great veneration.

Evidence connecting the Anglo-Saxon Ingui to the Norse Freyr is that another name for Freyr is Yngvi or Yngvi-Freyr, the Yngvi element is phonetically cognate with the Anglo-Saxon Ingui. It’s possible that the Anglo-Saxon Yngvi-Freyr may have been called Ingui-Frea, Frea being the Anglo-Saxon cognate of Freyr.

Freyr’s Return;

As important for the individual
and development of the world
as the revival of the Divine Feminine
in all Her myriad forms,
is the retrieval of the Passionate, Vibrant Masculine.

We might rediscover the caring masculine energies
to be a vital part of the cosmological balance
of universal and interpersonal forces.

After a brief outline of her scientific outlook into the pineal gland and its psi capabilities, Serena Roney-Dougal who has a PhD in Parapsychology(the exploration of psychic phenomena; telepathy, clairvoyance and psychokinesis etc) , demonstrates her parameters in this book to be of intuition rather than slavish adherence to facts alone, that ”Seeing the Other-world is dependent on being able to see with one’s mind’s eye…not bound by the senses, but sensitive to vision, to dream…”. In this sense the book was a delight because Serena fears not to tread where others pause to proselytize about the different names given or inflections of pronunciation applied for example to the widespread existence of goddess or horned gods in ancient cultures and thus appear to refute their self evident similarities of spiritual identity.
I found her method at times to be both entertaining and pushing at the bounds of credibility, her employment of extended conjectures, stepping lithely from one circumstance to extrapolate that this means another thing and was likely therefore to support her thesis that a third or further outcome was probable. But as noted, this work follows paths of intuition rather than a rigorous fact based liturgy and as such her method is redolent of her subject, the paranormal worlds of Fae and elven enchantment do indeed push at the bounds of a possibly humdrum credibility. If you are not open to the limitless range of possibilities in a remarkable universe, then you might never see them after all – and if you do by some chance you will rationalize them out of all meaningfulness…

Whilst Serena is a qualified researcher in parapsychology and does by the way provide relevant references in the extensive index of her book, she also succinctly and simply portrays an enlightening insight into how the myths and legends of yore present an insight into other levels and realms of existence coexisting with our own reality. The book goes on to provide many inspiring accounts of how the same Fae and elven energies of earth and beyond are now resurgent in more modern myths and experiences of fairy and elven visitations, ghostly presences and Ufo abductions.
I particularly liked this quote that she included which describes a ‘place’ outside of physical space ‘Faeryland exists as a super-normal state of consciousness into which people may enter in dreams, trance, ecstatic condition or for an indefinite period at death…it can have no other limits than that of the universe itself’ (Lady Gregory 1979).
Incorporating her accounts of the latest views of quantum science, which identifies that our own cognition is a causative effect influencing the outcome of physical events, with the earlier magickal traditions which by various means sought to interact and cooperate with these energies at an elemental level and beyond, drawing on her scientific work with the pineal gland sometimes called the third eye, and the body’s natural cycles and other possible brain states that make us receptive to signals and vibrations of unseen or parallel worlds, Serena provides some scientific validation of the basis for these psychic phenomena and much food for thought.

In my opinion Serena successfully portrays the result that the many ancient mythological and modern accounts as well as the scientifically studied psychic phenomena do demonstrate when considered together, that each of us is potentially aware at some level of the natural magic and interconnectedness of ourselves with the earth and infinite universe. ”I feel the faery faith today to be a resurgence in animism, a love of the earth, of nature, aware of spirit immanent in all matter, aware that my body is the temple of my soul, that I am spirit made manifest, that everything I do reverberates throughout the whole universe, that I am a part of the whole and contain the whole within me…. (&) the deities are understood in their abstract mythical form…”
Clearly and coherently joining the spiritual, metaphysical and psychological dots with their manifestations in the physical realms, presenting the faery faith as an awareness of and cooperation with the subliminal and super natural forces of which we are also made and that are virulent in nature and across the universe,

I recommend this accessible book to everyone who has ever wondered, and who is able to follow Fae reasoning as it skips into the new vistas of the para-normal.

you should realize these represent the spirits of nature,
diversities of natural phenomenue,
which are divided and multiplied through
energies, frequencies and vibrations known as –
Earth, Air, Fire and Water.But these ancient associates and size-less makers of space, are mere shadows of their actual selves and their Otherkin race, which are beyond our more usual capabilities of cognition with even sharp wide eyes, bright and subtle they are, more true than even legend or sighs.

Should you have recently been,
Or expect to imminently be
Abducted or Enchanted by

Elves, Faeries and Magickal Otherkin,
And if you are quite certain and completely decided
that you would really rather not go,
And you absolutely won’t think on it again,
Here is a small collection of useful tips to protect you.

Protection from Elven or Fae Enchantment;

A rather strange protection from abduction by Faeries and Otherkin was traditionally to wear your clothes inside out, which both confused and startled these creatures to such an extent that they would rather turn away than spend any time with you at all…Additional methods include,
to keep to find and keep on your person a four leafed clover,
to wear old cold iron, or carry salt (and a piece of bread)
in your pocket all over.

Amongst the laws of enchantment however some advice is contrary,
such as the carrying of a rowan wand or living beneath tree,
as rowan trees in some tales are shown to be sacred to the Fae,
whilst in others it is itself cited a protection to keep them away…

Ringing of Bells (particularly Church Bells) also have an ambiguous role,
whilst sometimes stated as protection against enchantment and abduction,conversely
Fairies riding on horseback, such as the Fairy Queen,
often have bells on their harnesses
(both heard by the ear and by the eye also seen)

This example may be a distinguishing trait between the Seelie Court from the Unseelie Court, Fairies may use to protect themselves from the more wicked members of their race, or may simply be an example of the inscrutable and undefinable nature of their hidden face.
That their ways cannot be identified with any degree of certainty,
this is an immutable fact beyond all controversy.
(source’ Anon.)

Emergency Procedure

In Case Of Elven or Faery Abduction;

x x x x x x x x
In certain circumstances you may wish for rescue
or release from such an enchantment,
and the first point of note is that they exist in a time outside of time,
which means that your call for help and ensuing response
could be delayed,by as much as a hundred years,
or more if the witting wood has strayed.

It may however still be a comfort to know that there exists
such an option.

Come under full moon on a wrathful stormy night,
Wearing only old clothes, before the Guardian bring your light,
Follow the first raven’s instructions and his path upon height,
Run faster than fox up the rainfall and jump through the sky bright.

Once you have completed this simple symmetry,
you must yield in a rhyme,
very important at such a plaintiff time,
as the rhyme generates a rhythm undulating in space
which they can more easily apprehend in their supernal grace,
now you must tell the reason why you must leave,
(you may use the voice which your throat cannot make)
(if that helps you to breathe)
and beware shedding of tear
these will simply be accepted as an offering-the sacred waters of life,
the assumption your petition misunderstood-they will leave you
like a fishwife.

Then you should find yourself revolved to the place of your leaving,
although you may still appear to be ethereal and ghostlike without feeling,
until you have been formally released
under bright-star with moon-beaming.

Alas as all things Fae in regard of time,
the duration is at best unknown,
at worst uneven.

If this is not the case and you find yourself to be still wretched and lurking,
you must repeat the process until you hear the last raven laughing,
this is the sign that the Elves and Fae do not consider you
a significant loss,
their magick world will continue well enough,
with or without you and your gloss.

Having succeeded in your escape, if ever you do….
you may now have to contend with a very changed world
that you are returned to.
Years, maybe hundreds, have passed since you left,
and indeed your own-self may seem very changedtoo.
People to whom you speak may hear only backwards sounds talking,
and when you write it will be in symbols that none understands.
The Fae and others do not practice the Arts of written language
as we know of them.

But you are a clever soul and will know what is best.

x x x x x x x x

Because many contest that mortals are not made for Fairy bliss,
Caution I Have Advised and Caution Have Given.
I cannot say fairer than this.

* * *

Alternately, should you welcome the super – natural ways of beyond
and actively seek enchantment with the same to make bond,
we move on now to present the other side of the case,
as in Elven tradition – both sides of the story we fairly embrace.

so dear reader, please settle yourself well,
and when you are ready,
read on for a spell….

Invocation of Elven or Fae Enchantment;

To walk the paths of enchantment will mean a significant shift in your life,
you may have to leave friends and family far behind,
to give up your home and this life,
to follow the mysterious byways beyond knowing
and live with the people beyond strife,
be ready for change, an eternity resplendent and rife.

Of-course everyone has heard of the enchanted life mystery,
in olden days magickal bells would ring
for the man or woman of particular virtue or beauty,
as taken they were to the Otherlands home of the Fae.
However, listen a moment and take heed afore you go on your way,
for in these worlds of beyond,
the people may seem strange and unknown manners be donned
so some say….

Firstly, you need to get there,
a journey which starts wherever you are now,
although in some circumstances such as that of Brigadoon,
a walk in the gloaming before you find the path how,
or perhaps take a dragonfly if you have one to hand,
or any other conveyance that will bring you to the land.

Such traveling is best undertaken at full moon and alone,
and because we travel O best beloved to the outsides past birthstone,
the ‘times’ of most power on the earth,
when the veils between worlds no-longer postpone,
such as Beltane and Samhain, the most inward foreknown.
Certain places are also preferred for the same reasons as above,
such as the boundaries between realms as scent of foxglove,
or a high mountain range
or a lake or seashore
(bogs and marshes lead to darker realms which we therefore abhor),
these areas harbor many portals beyond..
choose the directionless inflection and let the journey respond.

Birds are an ideal mode of transport to the other realms,
as Susanna Clarke has portrayed;
‘There is nothing else in magic but the wild thought of the bird as it casts itself into the void. There is no creature upon the earth with such potential for magic. Even the least of them may fly straight out of this world and come by chance to the Other Lands...’
(Susanna Clarke; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell)
Wrens, Ravens and Owls are therefore most readily purveyed.Song (and music) is another wonderful vessel
by which to cross the spaces between,
as in the tale of the Brigadoon Piper and The Highland Boobrie
we’ve seen.
Indeed and again many thanks to Susanna,
we have a perfect description of the power of music’s magickal manner
‘when the fairy sang the whole world listened…(the) clouds pause(d) in their passing…(the) hills shift(ed) and murmur(ed)(and the) cold mists dance(d)…the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands...’
Music can thereby open the gates to the inner worlds
and the immanence of beyond,
for those so called, this path may be
the most accessible of choices
with which to abscond.Once embarked on this mission
you shall naturally wish to invite an otherworldly guide,
to assist you on your way lest unwary denied,
and here the usual caution against being led astray
by the Elves and Fae need not apply,although
if any who appear are of particularly grim countenance
or are already known as mischievous –
you may graciously decline their ghastly talking touchstone.

The simplest agreement as follows will serve,
yet make no pact of quantity or duration, be wakeful, observe;

‘Aid me and I will Aid You‘.

For some people, especially those born with the gift of Second Sight,
such as Artists, Poets, Musicians and Healers of Light,
contacting the Fae is as easy as walking into wild forest,
or tumbling upon heath and calling out for the solace.

For others, an incantation of your own devising may be employed,
(be aware that the Fae have infinitely long memories and will easily spot a copy, and whilst you may invoke the Mephistophelean decree, nevertheless a counterfeit incantation is no guarantee) even so,
here is an old folklore spell I found long ago
and whilst unsure if work it still will,
you may model your own upon it and that the purpose surely shall fill.

To be incanted at midnight, on a full moon,
under an adjacent hawthorn tree,
if it is a rowan then you must adjust the chant thus accordingly.
Repeat thrice whilst walking widershins around the very same tree,
in right hand a lit candle, in left blossom or green branch of the tree,
but you must be very sure ’twas one given and not taken by thee;

‘Here I be, neath bless’d Hawthorn tree,I call upon You , the unformed, unseen, In peace and goodwill convene from your dream,Open to my words and Let My Sight See‘

Be careful and courteous and kindly though thou,
as they may object to being rudely invoked anyhow,
although if they do not come at your fist attempt don’t you see,
the beings beyond time have a different sense of urgency.

* * *For any who may have strayed over time from these natural proclivities,
you may regain your Second Sight or Psychic Vision ethereally,
become restored – a Walker Between Worlds,
by apprenticeship to a Druid, Shaman or Witch,
One in whom the Cosmos unfurls.

Whether they be of this world or another or other,
now living, or not yet, or no longer,no matter.As long a you follow the guidance with open heart sincerely.

Under tuition you will perceive
the diverse dimensions between physical and spirit,
you will open The Veil Between Worlds
and draw back The Mists with merit,as this world falls away and away, further now, and far gone…
it is here that beings from either side are aplomb.
Here to communicate and to crossover with each-other,
the Gateway to the Land(s) of the Fae
the very fundamental fulcrum.

A few pointers about the manners
you shall be expected to show;

Once
you meet the Fae and the Eleven and such,
whilst they will rejoice you and shew delight much,
it is advised you never to look straight in their eye
or their hand seek to touch,
this is considered the height of ill breeding,
and of their patience, nonesuch.

Also
avoid thanking them as this they will take,
to form a contract of debt you might rather not make,
– they shall expect to call for your service
until such a time as they choose,
the debt discharged or the mystery bemused –
(which in a land outside time may be very long time indeed)

Finally –
avoid talking about them to others of earth or beyond,
which is rude by anyone’s standards and they will of-course despond.
This last point may explain
the lack of evidence in the earthly historians accounts,
such as we have relying largely on conjecture they pronounce.

As you have arrived here by design and intent,
you may forgo the usual prescriptions
to avoid eating their food- drinking wine, even being wed.
Indeed you should join in their celebrations and feasts
of which there are many,
With great delight then and joy do make merry.
Any refusal may offend and other than this,
the worst that can occur – it will merely bind you to bliss,
from inadvertently slipping away in a dream of mind wakefulness,
or being ‘rescued’ by any meddler from the earth
who does not know of us.
Similarly the more usual caution over accepting gifts or payment
from fairies no-longer apply,
As you make your home among them,
To their ways you may fly.

In general the people of the beyond are very genteel in their ways,
and they will expect as much courtesy and grace from you
for the infinite stay of your days.
To win their goodwill,
be generous and fair in all your dealings above and below,
keep all your promises bright so that everyone will know.
Perform any act of kindness, any sacrifice for love,
share of your best and your charmed life will sing like a dove.

Despite the often mysterious confusing ways which they speak,
they prefer you to be straightforward, be forthright, polite and neat.
They expect appreciation
(not thanks, see the caution above)
for the magickal gifts they bestow
upon you, the open hearted whom they cherish just so.
They welcome human companions that are thoughtful and true,
fond of solitude and contemplation and gentle reader,
this does mean you.

Free spirit of merriment and good fellowship above all,
they await your intention and invocations call.

* * *To the enchanted folk both high and low,Blessed Be and Come and Go.
I make a reverence of deepness grow,
I yield the heart that your spirit may flow.
You who are Awake beyond all kinds of Knowing,Sacred Seeds of Light are sowing.